SCSU. Blue Book. Writing Guide for English Majors and Minors. English Department Southern Connecticut State University

Transcription

1 SCSU Blue Book Writing Guide for English Majors and Minors English Department Southern Connecticut State University

2 How to Use this Guide This Blue Book is for you in several senses. First, it is a writing guide for English Majors and Minors at Southern. Its purpose is to help you write college- level papers and other assignments in your literature, advanced composition, and professional writing classes. It covers the basics of formatting, use of quoted evidence, voice, and sentence mechanics and grammar needed to draft an English essay. It adheres to the MLA (Modern Language Association) guidelines the rulebook for English literature specialists and may not always be applicable to other disciplines or majors. It also does not take the place of any specific writing instruction or handouts your instructor provides. Second, it is for you, personally. Keep the Blue Book with you on campus, on your home desk, in your bag throughout your time at Southern. We have designed this guide as a quick reference tool for those routine writing issues you may have known but forgotten, or may have never known but didn t know how to find the answers easily. Many of these concepts are fundamentals that will not be covered in your English courses, so use this book to take charge of your own writing. For further writing help, visit the SCSU Writing Center, the Purdue Online Writing Lab ( or your professor during office hours. Why a Blue Book? Simple: so you ll remember it. To that end, we have designed the pages below for ease of reference. When things are in bold, pay attention - those are the main skills and principles to follow. When things are in Times New Roman, those are examples. Look at them carefully for models of what to do (and what not to do). Skim, dog- ear, circle, re- read as needed. Fresh copies can be downloaded (PDF) from the English Department website. DRAFT 2016 Dr. Joel Dodson Dr. Charles Baraw Dr. Cindy Stretch August 2016

3 Table of Contents I. The Basics of an English Essay MLA Style Sheet Sample Formatted Paper Paper Grade Criteria II. Working with Quoted Evidence Punctuating Quotations Integrating Quotations Analyzing Quoted Evidence III. Voice and Clarity Beyond I : Varying Subject Nouns The Literary Present Tense Titles IV. Sentence Mechanics and Grammar Basics of Complete Sentences (1) Fragments, Run- Ons, Comma Splices Basics of Complete Sentences (2) From Compound to Complex Commas, Semi- Colons, Colons Agreement Restrictive and Non- Restrictive Elements Modifiers Apostrophes and Possessives

4 I. The Basics of an English Essay 1

5 MLA Style Sheet SCSU The following is a style sheet for your English classes at SCSU, based on the MLA (Modern Language Association) guidelines for how to cite sources in a Works Cited page and parenthetically in a paper. A full explanation of the MLA guidelines for In- Text Documentation and Works Cited can be found online at the Purdue Online Writing Lab ( and in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 8 th edition (2016). Remember that other majors and disciplines at SCSU may require different style guidelines (APA, Chicago, etc.). Works Cited Below are examples of some of the most common bibliographic citations used in Works Cited pages. Use this for papers and for any other assignment for which you need to cite a work (an annotated bibliography, a paper proposal, etc.) following MLA guidelines. Remember that these are examples. You need to be able to locate the author, title, editor(s), publication information, page numbers, and any other relevant information on your own. Be sure also to follow the correct format exactly, including punctuation, order of information, italics, etc. How to cite A book When citing an entire book by one or more authors, include author(s), book title, publisher, date: Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. Basic Books, Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. 2 nd ed., Yale UP, A critical edition or translation When citing an entire book by an author that has also been edited or translated by someone else, add the editor or translator after the title: Donne, John. The Complete English Poems. Edited by A. J. Smith, Penguin, Sloterdijk, Peter. You Must Change Your Life. Translated by Wieland Hoban, Polity Press, An essay or chapter in an edited volume When citing an essay or chapter contained within a book that has essays or chapters by other writers as well, include the author of the essay or chapter itself, the title of the essay or chapter in quotations, the book title, editor(s), publication information, and the page range of the essay or chapter: Arnold, Miah. You Owe Me. The Best American Essays 2012, edited by David Brooks, Houghton Mifflin, 2012, pp Hauerwas, Stanley. Why Gays (as a Group) Are Morally Superior to Christians (as a Group). The Hauerwas Reader, edited by John Berkman and Michael Cartwright, Duke UP, 2001, pp A literary work (poem, short story, play, etc.) in an anthology or textbook When citing an individual literary work in an anthology or textbook containing multiple works, follow the same format as a work in an edited volume above, including the number of the edition after the title, if necessary. Borges, Jorge Luis. The Immortal. Collected Fictions, translated by Andrew Hurley, Penguin, 1998, pp Marlowe, Christopher. Hero and Leander. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9 th ed., edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., Norton, 2012, pp A literary work online When citing a short work (poem, short story, etc.) found on a web page, include author, title of the work, title and date of book from which it was derived (if provided), title of website, a URL or Permalink, and the date you accessed it: Wyatt, Sir Thomas. They Flee From Me. Luminarium.org, Accessed 10 Nov Lee, Li Young. Arise, Go Down. The City in Which I Love You, 1990, Poetry Foundation, Accessed 13 Dec A scholarly article in an academic journal (in print or PDF) When citing a scholarly article in an academic journal that you have in print or a PDF copy of the printed pages, include the author of the article, article title, title of journal, volume and issue number, year, and page range of the article: Randel, Fred V. The Political Geography of Horror in Mary Shelley s Frankenstein. ELH, vol. 70, no. 2, 2003, pp Nydam, Arlen. Philip Sidney s Extended Family and the Catholic Petition of Sidney Journal, vol. 28, no. 1, Spring 2010, pp A scholarly article in an academic journal (in an online database) When citing a scholarly article in an academic journal that you are viewing as a web page in a library database (i.e., not in PDF), use the same format as above but include a URL and the date you accessed it. If no page numbers to a print edition are listed, omit them or provide paragraph (par.) numbers: Heyen, William. Sunlight. American Poetry Review, vo. 36, no. 2, 2007, 7 paras., ebscohost.com. aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an= &site=ehost-live. Accessed 24 Sept A non- scholarly article in an online newspaper or magazine When citing a popular newspaper or magazine article online (not found in a library database), include author, title of the article, name of the online publication, the date of the article, a URL or Permalink, and the date you accessed it: Korb, Scott. Anywhere, Nowhere, Elsewhere, Everywhere. Slate, 10 Jan. 2014, _powers_novel_orfeo_reviewed.single.html. Accessed 15 Jan Cavett, Dick. Booze, Revisited. New York Times, 10 Jan. 2014, Accessed 13 Jan Other cases not covered above If you have a source not covered in the examples above e.g., a print newspaper article, an e- book, a blog, a YouTube clip, etc. consult the MLA Guidelines at: Things to remember Always compile your Works Cited in alphabetical order, author s last name first Book titles take italics; articles, essays, short stories, and short poems take quotation marks ( ) If the citation is longer than one line, indent each line after the first Page numbers are required for any essay, journal article, or work within a larger work If there are more than two editors, use et al. (Latin for and others ) after the first editor s name Don t mistake authors with editors the author is the person who wrote the work you re using, the editor is the one who put it where it is 2

6 In- Text Citation Following MLA guidelines, cite your sources in the body of your paper parenthetically. Cite all quotations and any important information, ideas, or words not your own. Parenthetical citations typically occur at the ends of sentences or after quotations. With the exception of block quotations, the parenthetical citation always comes after quotation marks but before the period or semi- colon. Basic format To cite a source in your paper, include the author s last name and page number in the parentheses; do not use p. or page : E.g., (Ruhl 25) As one critic has argued, Measure for Measure raises the issue of embodied experience in the opening scenes (Knapp 262). If you have already named the author in the preceding clause or sentence(s), simply cite the page number: As Jeffrey Knapp has argued, Measure for Measure raises the issue of embodied experience in the opening scenes (262). Source quoted in another source To cite an author quoted in another article, essay, or book, include the author s name in your prose and credit the work in which you found it, using quoted in : Empson claimed that A word may become a sort of solid entity (quoted in Frenkel 190). Literary works To cite poetry, give line numbers, using line for the first citation and the number for every subsequent citation. Use stanza numbers for larger works: E.g., (line 13), (17-19), ( ), etc. Donne begins Satire 1 pleading, Away thou changling motley humorist (line 1). By the middle of the poem, however, he calls his companion a contrite penitent / Charitably warn d of thy sins (49-50). To cite plays in dramatic verse, give act, scene, and line numbers: E.g., ( ) To cite works of literary prose such as novels or short stories use the basic format above, citing author and page number. When needed for clarity, include chapters for novels: e.g., (105; ch. 12). Working with Quotations Remember that the correct use of quotations in your papers is important. Punctuation and capitalization must be exact. In American prose, commas and periods at the end of a quotation go inside the quotation marks, outside if the quotation is followed by a parenthetical citation. When quoting verse, mark line breaks using a back- slash ( / ). Everyone has heard the saying, He came, he saw, he conquered. That thou hast her, it is not all my grief, / And yet it may be said I loved her dearly (lines 1-2). Integrate all quotations properly, with a signal clause and proper punctuation; there should be no dangling quotations. To introduce a quotation, you need a signal clause containing either a speaking verb with a comma (, ) or no speaking verb and a colon ( : ). You may also use the quotation to continue your own sentence grammatically, using a that clause or a subordinate clause. Regardless, the quotation must make semantic and grammatical sense in the sentence as a whole, meaning it needs to form a complete thought together with the surrounding clause. Correct Shakespeare s gender confusion in Sonnet 120 can be seen in the next quatrain, where the poet complains, Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure! (9). Shakespeare s gender confusion in Sonnet 120 is clear in the final quatrain: Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure! (9). The poet speaks of a boy Who hast by waning grown (3) but turns eventually to remark that Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack (5) has defeated him. According to the speaker, Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds (14). Incorrect Shakespeare is confused about his gender, Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure! (9). After this, the poet says, though delayed, answered must be (11). The next quote begins; And her quietus is to render thee. (12) According to the speaker, minion of her pleasure! (9). Special Cases If there is more than one work by the same author in your Works Cited, include an abbreviated title in the parenthetical citation: e.g., (Donne, Pseudo- Martyr 50). If the author is unknown, include only the abbreviated title and page number in the parenthetical citation. If you are citing a block quotation a longer indented quotation, to be used when you quote more than four lines of poetry the parenthetical citation comes after the final punctuation. 3

7 Smart 1 Riley Smart Prof. Royall Payne English 666 December 7, 2016 All (or Nearly All) About MLA Formatting This page both explains and demonstrates the primary page set-up parameters for an MLA-formatted essay, according to the latest edition of the MLA Handbook (8 th edition, 2016). That is to say, this document gives instructions for how to create an MLA-formatted paper, and it shows you what an essay following those instructions should look like. All instructions assume that you re using Microsoft Word, but the commands in most other word-processing programs are similar. First, select the entire document (from the Editing tab in the upper right corner of the toolbars above) so that your formatting changes will be applied to the entire document. Next, select the Paragraph menu and set to double spacing. While you re there, make sure Alignment is set to Left : the entire essay must be left-justified (not full-justified). This means that the left-hand edge of your type is perfectly straight but the right-hand edge is uneven. While you re in this menu, too, be sure the box labeled Don t add space between paragraphs of the same style is checked. This command will prevent MSWord from automatically adding extra spaces between paragraphs. Save your changes. Still in the Home tab, in the Font menu this time, choose a normal font (like Times New Roman or Courier or Arial), Regular font style, and font size 10, 11, or 12. Next, go to the Page Layout tab choose Margins, and set to one (1) inch, all the way around (left & right, top and bottom). That does it for basic page set-up. Page numbering is a little trickier. Choose the Insert tab and then click on Header. Choose Edit Header from the menu. This will place your cursor in the header box at the top of your document. Click Insert Alignment Tab and select Right alignment to make the cursor 4

8 Smart 2 move to the far right of the header. Returning to the Header and Footer Tools tab, set Header from Top and Footer from Bottom are both set to.5 inches; this command will center your header information vertically inside the 1-inch top margin. Now type your last name plus one space, and click on the Insert Page Number menu at the left of the toolbar, followed by Current Position and Plain Number. Make sure the font you re using in the header matches the size and type of the font in the main text of your essay. If the header is set correctly, your typing should appear ½ inch from the top of the page midway down the one-inch top margin and flush with the right margin. Click Close Header and Footer when you re done, or simply double click in the body of your document. Note the four-line heading at the top left of the first page. Unless your instructor gives you alternative instructions, follow the example exactly. No title page is necessary. Note also the title, centered and double-spaced, with major words capitalized, but otherwise in normal typeface no all-caps; no boldface; no italics, no quotation marks. The entire essay must be double-spaced even the parts that you don t think should be double-spaced. Notice the headings and title at the top of the page: they re double-spaced. Block quotations? Double-spaced. Works Cited entries? Double-spaced. Everything is doublespaced no exceptions. A new paragraph is indented one standard tab-space: five spaces or, more precisely, one-half inch. No extra spaces between paragraphs because you guessed it everything is double-spaced. (As I wrote earlier, check the box labeled Don t add space between paragraphs of the same style in the Paragraph menu to prevent MSWord from adding extra spaces between paragraphs.) So much for formatting. Yes, it s a pain. But correct formatting sends a clear message to your readers that you know what you re doing and therefore that the content of your writing should be taken seriously. The more formatting mistakes you make, the more likely it becomes that readers will assume the opposite: that you don t know what you re doing and therefore that 5

9 Smart 3 they should not take your writing seriously. Fairly or not, that s a cue to readers that they really don t need to pay much attention to whatever your essay is trying to communicate, because its content is likely to show the same sloppiness and lack of seriousness that the formatting does. In other words, your handling of the technicalities of formatting directly effects your audience s perception of your authority as a writer. One essential element of any essay in literary analysis or interpretation is quotation and citation of outside sources, whether they are primary sources (a novel, story, poem, play or other work about which you are writing) or secondary sources (an essay, historical document, book, website, or other work whose words and/or ideas you're citing in support of your argument). A short prose quotation, one that is four or fewer typewritten lines long, should be handled as an embedded quotation, indicated by quotation marks but run in with the typography of your sentence as though all the words in the sentence are your own. This sentence is an example: noted grammarian Joe Blow notes that embedded quotations must function grammatically and mechanically in a sentence as though they are not quotations at all, but simply a part of the sentence in which they appear (47). Longer prose quotations, ones that are more than four typewritten lines long, should be formatted as block quotations instead of embedded quotations. MLA scholar Anita Lotta Trivia says this about the use of block quotations: Quoted material that amounts to more than four lines of typewritten text in your document should appear as a block quote like this one instead of an embedded quote. Block quotes appear without quotation marks, because the block itself indicates that the material is a quotation. Block quotes retain a normal (one-inch) right margin, but their left margin is an extra half inch from the margin. This is a change from previous editions of the MLA Handbook, which instructed writers to indent block quotations one full inch from the left margin. (872) 6

10 Smart 4 Your decision about whether to use a block quotation or an embedded quotation should be based on the number of typewritten lines in the quotation as it appears in your essay, not as it appears in the source. Never leave a quotation dangling at the end of your paragraph; don t give the other guy the last word in your paragraph. Instead, use your sentences after a quotation to explain to your readers exactly how you want them to understand the quoted material so that it supports whatever point you're trying to make. If it doesn't do so, then you shouldn't be quoting it. Now look back at the preceding paragraphs about quotations. Notice the source citations: the parenthetical information giving author and page information about the sources I have quoted. The first citation (three paragraphs back from here) includes only the page number of the source material, because the sentence itself identified the author. If the sentence had not identified Joe Blow as the quotation s source (as in the following clause), then the end-ofsentence source citation and punctuation would look like this instead (Blow 47). Note, too, that punctuation at the end of the block quote (two paragraphs back from here) differs from that of an embedded quotation: for embedded quotations, punctuation occurs after the citation, but in embedded quotations, punctuation occurs before the citation. Just as in the embedded quotation, had the author not been named in the signal sentence before the block quote, the author's last name would need to be included in the in-text citation. Formatting and citation of poetry and drama work a little differently from prose. First, the rule for deciding between an embedded or a block quotation differs for poetry from prose, in two different ways. When quoting poetry, use a block quotation when you quote more than three lines of poetry (as opposed to more than four lines of prose). Count lines of poetry as they appear in the source (as opposed to their appearance in your document, for prose quotations). Lines of poetry must be capitalized and punctuated exactly as they appear in the source poem, just as the following three lines of poetry do: Poetic quotes appear / With line breaks indicated by a slash / Just like those shown here for these three lines (Opus, Poetic, lines 14-17). 7

11 Smart 5 Note the extra information in that last citation. It's there for two reasons: because one should cite poetry by line number rather than page, and because this essay also includes another quotation / By the same poet writ / But taken from a second poem (Opus, Rhyming, 7-10). Because the essay cites two different works by a single author, the parenthetical citations must indicate which of the two works the quotation comes from. If your essay included only one work by the author Magnum Q. Opus, then the work's title would be omitted from the parenthetical reference. Note also that the second instance of poetic quotation omits the word lines from the citation; once is enough to establish the pattern for readers. Notice, too, that the title information in each of these two citations is formatted differently from the other. That's because the first quotation comes from a short work (a lyric poem, in this case) and therefore appears in quotation marks, while the latter quotation is taken from a long work (a book-length poem) and therefore appears in italics. The rules for formatting quotations from plays are similar in their logic, but would take too much space to demonstrate here, so see the MLA Handbook for further instructions. This document outlines most of the greatest hits of MLA: rules for the formatting and citation feats that you'll need to perform most regularly. The most glaring omission from this document is the lack of a Works Cited page at the end of the paper to give full information about the sources cited in the body of the text. See the MLA Handbook, pages 20 and following, for further information. See also the instructions and samples in the English@SCSU MLA Style Guide, available on the English Department website on the Resources for Students page. Further resources are available on the MLA s website and in Buley Library s MLA Style Guide, which is linked from the library s Research Guides menu. If you are an English major or minor, you should invest in your own copy of the latest edition of the MLA Handbook (the 8 th, at the time of this writing) and get in the habit of consulting it routinely. 8

12 Paper Grades An A paper is outstanding. It goes considerably beyond a merely adequate response, and delves beneath the surface of its subject to address the topic intelligently, perceptively, and thoughtfully. The argument is supported by well- chosen evidence that is gracefully introduced and thoroughly analyzed; it skillfully explores more than one side of the issue. It contains only minor mechanical errors, if any, and no significant lapses in diction or organization. The A paper demonstrates originality and creativity in language, language use, structure, and form. A B paper is good. It does more than merely fulfill the assignment, showing careful thought and a serious exploration of its topic. It has a clearly stated argument, which expresses the author s original opinions. However, that argument may be imperfectly supported or somewhat awkwardly expressed. The B paper is clear and free of jargon, with few distracting errors in usage and mechanics. Its use of language is creative as well as competent. A C paper is acceptable. It represents the adequate fulfillment of the assignment, clearly stating its topic and sticking to it. Often it is descriptive rather than analytical, and it may tend to repeat stock responses instead of presenting fresh insights. It may also have a good, original argument but exhibit serious problems in the execution of that argument. The C paper fails to make the best possible use of evidence: examples may be absent, ill- chosen, awkwardly introduced, or insufficiently analyzed. The paper is often marred by distracting errors in usage or organization. A D paper is seriously flawed. The ideas it expresses may be incomplete or vague. It is often so poorly constructed (stylistically, organizationally, and/or logically) that it is difficult to follow the sequence of ideas. It may wander from point to point without showing how all of its ideas cohere. It may also be marred by so many errors in mechanics and usage that the message is hard to decipher. An F paper is unacceptable. It shows either little thought or incomplete thinking. It is so poorly constructed (stylistically, organizationally, and/or logically) that it may be almost impossible to follow the sequence of ideas. It may also contain so many errors in mechanics and usage that it is almost impossible to understand. This category can also include a stylistically adequate paper that is not on the assigned or determined topic. 9

13 II. Working with Quoted Evidence 10

14 Punctuating Quotations Quotations need to be correctly punctuated in order to avoid creating run- on sentences, comma splices, or other sentence errors. Enclose all quotations in double quotations marks ( ). Do not bolden, italicize, or or use other inventive formatting to mark off quoted text. Single quotation marks should be preserved for quotations within quotations. 1. Before a quotation There are two basic ways to punctuate the beginning of a quotation: A comma after a signal verb Quotations beginning with an introductory clause that ends in a signal verb (e.g., says, claims, suggests, observes, implies, argues, believes, etc.) take a comma: Shakespeare s sexual ambiguity in Sonnet 120 can be seen in the next quatrain, where the poet warns, Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure! (9). A colon and no signal verb When the introductory clause before the quotation is a complete thought that does not end in a signal verb, use a colon: Shakespeare s sexual ambiguity in Sonnet 120 can be seen in the warning that begins the next quatrain: Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure! (9). 2. Continuing the sentence grammatically (no additional punctuation) When the quoted text logically and grammatically continues your own sentence, no additional punctuation is needed preceding the quotation: The poet in Sonnet 120 speaks of a boy Who hast by waning grown (3). A very common instance of a quotation completing one s own sentence is the use of that clauses; if the quotation logically follows an introductory clause ending in that, no punctuation is needed: Shortly thereafter, the poet remarks that Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack has defeated him (5). 11

15 Finally, a quotation may also complete your sentence grammatically if it follows a subordinate or introductory clause (e.g., As a result, According to the narrator, etc.). In this case, a comma follows the subordinate clause, just as it would a typical sentence: According to the next quatrain, Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack has nevertheless defeated the speaker (5). 3. At the end of a quotation In American prose, the punctuation at the end of the quotation as it appears in the original text goes inside the quotation marks: Barack Obama said, We must honor the memory of those lost in Arizona. However, when the quotation is followed by a parenthetical page or line citation, the closing punctuation goes outside the quotation marks. The narrator then captures the protagonist s unacknowledged feelings: Her husband did not make her feel like this (Bowen 83). When the original passage ends in either a question mark (?) or an exclamation point (!), preserve both the original punctuation and the period after the citation. Faustus s famous speech to Helen begins, Was this the face that launched a thousand ships? ( ). Finally, when eliding - or omitting - part of the end of a quotation, omit any ending commas or colons, and add three full stops ( ) plus the final period. (Note: ellipses should always be used sparingly in your prose, and only when they accurately preserve the basic sense of the original.) As Wharton s story opens, It was three o clock in the morning, and the cotillion was at its height (1). 4. Punctuating Lines of Poetic or Dramatic Verse When quoting two or more lines of poetic or dramatic verse, mark all line divisions using a forward slash ( / ): Jonson s poem is evenly divided into halves when the speaker wonders, For why / Will man lament the state he should envy? (5-6). Scene 4 begins with Angelo painting a vivid image of his sin and its bodily effects: When I would pray and think, I think and pray / To several subjects. Heav n in my mouth / As if I did but chew his name ( ). 12

16 Integrating Quotations Correct punctuation is not enough. Quoted material in your writing needs to make grammatical and semantic sense with your surrounding sentence(s). Here are four rules of thumb for integrating quotations clearly into your prose: 1. Your surrounding sentence and the quotation need to combine to form a complete thought. Incorrect According to Jonson, As what he loves (line 12). The quotation itself is only a partial phrase, rendering the surrounding sentence an incomplete thought. Correct In the last line, Jonson forswears all long-term commitments on behalf of his son, saying, For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such / As what he loves may never like too much (lines 11-12). The sentence now has a quotation and an introductory clause that, combined together, form a complete thought. 2. Never leave a quotation dangling ; introduce all quotations. Incorrect Simmel discusses modern city life. The psychological basis of the metropolitan type of individuality consists in the intensification of nervous stimulation that results from the swift and uninterrupted change of outer and inner stimuli (25). The quotation is dangling ; it s a separate sentence, without context or introductory clause, and has only a vague relationship to the previous sentence. Correct Simmel wanted to explore the mental effects of modern city life, which he describes early in his essay as an experience of almost constant overstimulation: The psychological basis of the metropolitan type of individuality consists in the intensification of nervous stimulation that results from the swift and uninterrupted change of outer and inner stimuli (25). The quotation now follows logically from the previous sentence, which announces the main idea of the quotation with an introductory clause (correctly punctuated). 13

17 3. Use textual cues in introductory clauses to guide the reader. Prose When writing about fiction or non- fiction prose, use descriptive textual clues - mini- summary, references to key events, chapters or other section breaks, or even a simple beginning, middle, or end where appropriate - to guide your reader to the context of the quotation. Do not use page numbers, as pages may vary between editions (and this information is in your parenthetical citation anyway). Incorrect On page 83 of Fun Home, the narrator reflects, Dad s death was not a new catastrophe but an old one that had been unfolding very slowly for a long time (83). Correct When Alison s mother presents her girlfriend with her father s copy of Wallace Stevens poetry, the narrator reflects, Dad s death was not a new catastrophe but an old one that had been unfolding very slowly for a long time (83). Coates opens the first chapter of Between the World and Me with a seemingly counter-intuitive claim: But race is the child of racism, not the father (7). On his first glimpse of the African coast, Marlow sees The edge of a colossal jungle so dark green as to be almost black (13). Poetry When writing about poetry, use formal cues - line numbers, stanzas, and other structural devices - to guide your reader around the text of the poem: In line 3 of The Good Morrow, the speaker muses whether he and his lover sucked on country pleasures childishly in a previous life. By the time we ve reached the final stanza, however, the imagery has changed: My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears (15) Donne s closing couplet creates a paradox: If our two loves be one, or, thou and I / Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die (20-21). Drama Plays, particular those written in dramatic verse like Shakespeare s, often require a combination of the above textual cues. Where appropriate, use a combination of mini- description of staged action as well as formal references to act or scene number, to guide your reader: Lear utters his fateful words in the first scene of the play: Nothing will come of nothing, speak again (1.1.88). Act Three begins with Kent wondering, Who s there, besides foul weather? (3.1.1). Lear s words to Cordelia as they are lead away to prison imagines them together as birds i th cage and God s spies (5.3.9, 17). 14

18 Analyzing Quoted Evidence Working with quoted evidence in a literary essay requires analyzing and using that evidence effectively in your prose. Simply inserting or adding more quotes does not produce lucid (or particularly meaningful) writing. It s what you do with the quoted evidence that matters. As an English Major or Minor, quoted evidence is the means to something larger: treating the literary text as the subject of your analysis. Practically speaking, this means: sandwiching every quotation with appropriate summary, context, and explanation providing a judicious mix of full and partial quotations, including quoting key terms and phrases where helpful keeping your own words and ideas in the driver s seat, while nevertheless rooting everything you say in the language of the text 1. Sample Paragraph Donne uses the word sense only once in the middle of A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning in a parenthesis that nevertheless carries great weight: Dull sublunary lovers love / (Whose soul is sense) The writer correctly integrates and punctuates full quotations throughout the paragraph using introductory colons and commas, parenthetical citations, and line breaks. cannot admit / Absence (lines 13-15). The speaker contrasts his refined (17) love with the love of those who are dull because they are sublunary, or live on earth, below the moon. He suggests that he and his beloved are defined by their minds, not physical things, and therefore do not care about being absent from each other. Dull or superficial love, by Notice how the writer pulls out key words and phrases from the previous quotation and its surrounding lines for further analysis. contrast, relies on the Those things which elemented it (16), or sense, to keep it alive. On one hand, by putting soul is sense in parentheses, Donne might be taken to mean that his thoughts are free from such superficial things. The word sense in line 14 serves as a metaphor to imply that other lovers souls are like mere blocks of wood or stone. On the other The writer continues to treat the text as the subject of his or her analysis by considering two contrasting interpretations of the original quotation. 15

19 hand, the same word can be read literally to mean that some lovers souls are preoccupied with the bodily or emotional senses. This latter connotation of sense is ironic because Donne s poem seems preoccupied itself with physical imagery for emotional connection. The poem closes, Thy firmness makes my circle just, / And makes me end where I begun (44-45). If Donne needs to sense his lover s firmness in order to feel justified, or complete, one wonders if their love is really that different from the rest Using helpful textual cues (e.g., closes ), the writer advances the paragraph s analysis by linking the original passage discussed to a quotation at the end of the poem, sandwiching the quotation with context and follow- up. of the dull world. 2. Working with Block Quotations Block quotations are long quotations that are more than four lines of prose or more than three lines of verse, indented and offset from the main body of your text. They should be used sparingly in any essay or writing assignment under ten pages. In very short papers (under three pages), you should avoid them, unless it is absolutely necessary or you have been instructed to use them otherwise. Here are two general rules of thumb for the use of block quotations: never end a paragraph with a block quotation always devote at least twice as many lines of explanation to a block quotation as the quotation itself 16

20 III. Voice and Clarity 17

21 Beyond I : Varying Subject Nouns Often, students think that they can t express an opinion or an original interpretation in their writing without using the word I. Not so. There are many other possibilities. At times, I is indeed the best option. Turns of phrase like In this paper, I will argue that or What I have tried to show, can announce explicitly to your reader what you re trying to prove. When I serves as a statement of mere opinion, however ( I can see links between, I like when Wordsworth, etc.), it takes the place of argumentation and evidence. To avoid this, strong writers vary their subject nouns, experimenting with different ways of referring to author, speaker, text, reader, and the language of a work itself in order to express complex ideas using strong subjects and action verbs. Here is a list of guidelines and suggestions. Think about what fits best with what you re trying to do and say in a given sentence, paragraph, or essay. 1. Author When first referring to the author of a text in an essay, use his or her full name. Afterward, use his or her last name. 2. Speaker Virginia Woolf wrote the character Septimus Warren Smith in Mrs. Dalloway based on cases of shellshock from World War I. Woolf later portrays Septimus as a psychological parallel to the disaffected Clarissa. The author is not always the one doing the talking in a poem, story, or novel. Even when the speaker is not an actual character or persona, it is an effect of the text - an effect you can more formally denote with words like: speaker, narrator, etc. 3. Text In the beginning of the poem, the speaker conveys a tone of assurance and confidence. In the closing couplet, however, the poet uses enjambment to call that confidence into question. When Mangin s sister appears on the balcony, Joyce s first-person narrator focalizes the story so that we see her from the perspective of a young ten- or twelve-year-old boy. Overall, the text itself is the main speaker in any literary essay. More than author or speaker, there are many ways to make the text as a whole or a portion of it the agent of your sentences. Here are just a few: 18

22 poem line sonnet stanza refrain couplet (octave, sestet, etc.) scene act passage dialogue chorus prologue chapter narrative discourse structure metaphor imagery ending beginning Scene Two suggests an entirely different picture of Shakespeare s Prospero, as seen in his dialogue with Miranda. The structure of line 2, which relates the approach with taste, implies Herbert s reluctance toward Christian worship in Superluminarium. With an entire page devoted to fog, the imagery of Bleak House sends an early signal about its allegorical intentions. 4. Reader At the same time, the reader - real or imagined - is just as much an active subject in the construction of a text. Beyond I, your words can indicate that effect formally or informally with subject nouns like one, the reader, or simply we. In Auden s imagery of jack-boots marching, one detects a direct response to 1930s fascism. We first meet Barabas in The Jew of Malta counting his Infinite riches in a little room (1.2.1), and our impression is of a character paradoxically both large and small. 5. Language What ties all these options together, of course, is words - the language of the poem, play, or narrative you re analyzing. Keep it simple: sometimes the clearest subject noun for making your point in a paper is a word or phrase itself. Quintessence of dust relates two seemingly opposing ideas, essence and ephemera. Taken together, these words capture the tension Shakespeare wants us to feel in Hamlet. 19

23 Literary Present Tense When we write about literature we are always, in a sense, writing about the present. Though the text under consideration was written in the past (even if it was written 15 seconds ago), the act of interpreting it is happening in the present. The text is communicating to its readers in the present moment. Perhaps more to the point, the present of the narrative also, by definition, has its own past and its own future. These ways of conceptualizing the act of reading have been handed down to readers of English as conventions. In order to comply with those conventions, we use the present tense to discuss both what is happening in the now of the text and what is happening during the acts of interpretation and analysis. When we are discussing the past or future within or relative to the world of the text, we make our choices about verb tense accordingly. Babo is careful to appear subservient, a ruse that will be discovered by Captain Delano. Sought after by powerful men for years, Lily has refused to accept an offer of marriage. Now, unmarried at 29, she takes on the distasteful task of convincing Percy Gryce, the stodgy heir to a large fortune, to fall in love with her. Here s a longer example from Paul Petrie s Introduction to William Dean Howells s An Imperative Duty: This scientifically authorized deterioration of African Americans legal status culminated in the US Supreme Court s infamous acceptance of the separate but equal doctrine of racial segregation Here Petrie uses the past tense to discuss the novella s historical context. in public life in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that would stand until the middle of the twentieth century. Howells s novel of interracial marriage participates unmistakably in this ongoing national pseudoscientific dialogue. The novel s opening chapters appropriate the language and concerns of the contemporary sciences of race primarily through their center of consciousness, Dr. Edward Olney, a trained physician recently Here Petrie is discussing what the text is doing in the moment when it is being read, so he uses the present tense. returned to the United States after long absence in Europe. 20

24 Titles It s easy to ignore the titles of your papers until the last minute, leaving you time to produce only a vague or general heading to your paper. But titles are an important part of a polished paper. Rather than seeing them as announcing the topic of your paper, see your titles as the beginning of your argument. They should not only draw your reader in but help your reader see what original contribution your thesis will be making to the topic at hand. Here are some strategies: 1. Keep it specific A specific title is better than a general title because it clues your reader into the original idea you are bringing to the conversation around your topic. Rather than, Try: Immigration Debate in the U.S. Anti-Immigrant Stigma in Arizona Politics 2. Cluster Key Terms Think about the key terms of your essay, and group or cluster them into a persuasive idea in your title. Rather than, Try: Problems in Donne s Satyre III Fraternity, Fatherhood, and True Religion in Donne s Satyre III 3. Use the Colon to Show the Conversation Authors of papers often use a colon in their titles to show a relationship between ideas and the larger conversation at stake: Between the World and Them: The Black Lives Matter Movement in Baldwin and Coates Joking Our Way to Adulthood: The Everyday Rhetoric of David Foster Wallace s Kenyon Commencement Speech 21

25 IV. Sentence Mechanics and Grammar 22

26 The Basics of Complete Sentences (1): Sentence Fragments, Run- ons, and Comma Splices Many people feel that writing grammatically correct sentences is a kind of mystery. They feel unsure how to recognize a complete sentence and how to avoid writing sentence fragments. They may feel confused about commas or about punctuation in general. The temptation, as a result, is to treat good writing as a set of arcane, punitive rules an unknowable set of principles that are just around the corner, out to get you. Rather than focusing on how to avoid bad sentences, it is more helpful to focus on how to write good sentences. Better yet, it makes sense to think about strong sentences sentences that do something, make strong claims, and have a command over the grammatical building blocks necessary to make those claims persuasively. These building blocks can be learned. The trick is to remember some basic principles of sentence writing, to practice them, and then to build toward more sophisticated sentences. Avoid seeing these principles as mysteries. See them as a basic framework for expressing your most interesting thoughts and ideas. 1. Complete Sentences A complete sentence must have a subject and a verb: Jane laughed. [subject] [verb] I [subject] thought long and hard about the matter. [verb] It can have other things too, but it needs an identifiable subject doing a complete action: Jane [subject] laughed at the clown in the circus while eating a hot dog. [verb] When I got home from the appointment, I [subject] thought long and hard about the matter of my health. [verb] 2. Fixing Sentence Fragments A sentence without an identifiable subject and verb is an incomplete sentence, or sentence fragment. Will do. This has an action but no subject. Who will do? That? He? 23

27 The one with the brown coat. This has a subject but no verb. What about the one? What is the one with the brown coat doing? This idea at the heart of the article. This also has a subject but no verb. What about this idea? There are some common reasons that people write sentence fragments. Again, it s not a mystery! The usual reason is that they have separated out as a fragment part of a larger, complete sentence. Incorrect Although he came home. This is a dependent clause without a main, or independent, clause. A dependent clause relies on an independent clause to make sense. Here s a complete sentence using the above fragment. Correct Although he came home, he [subject] went back out. [verb] He went back out is a complete sentence. It can stand on its own. Although he came home is an unfinished thought without it. Sentences that begin with words like Although, While, Because, Unless, Since, After, When, If, and Even though will produce sentence fragments unless they are attached to a complete action. Examples: Incorrect While I was outside. Correct While I was outside, I mowed the lawn. Incorrect Even though the sign said Stop. Correct He went anyway, even though the sign said Stop. Another common source of incomplete sentences is garbled sentences, or sentences that have missing or jumbled words. These you should be able to avoid with proof- reading. Incorrect I the article is wrong. The sentence is missing a verb ( I think, I believe, etc.). Berry s claims that would not work. The writer confuses the possessive Berry s claims with a sentence about what Berry claims. 24

28 3. Compound Sentences Once you know how to write complete sentences, you can start building longer sentences, such as compound sentences. A compound sentence joins two complete sentences together with a comma plus the words and, but, yet, so, for, or nor. The latter are called coordinating concjunctions, or connecting words. Jane laughed, and I cried. [subject] [verb] [subject] [verb] Jane laughed at the movie while we waited, but I cried from hunger. [subject] [verb] [subject] [verb] A compound sentence must have a complete clause with subject and verb - on both sides of the comma. Incorrect Jane laughed, and cried. [subject] [verb] [verb] Here, Jane is doing both the laughing and crying. Either add a subject to the second clause (e.g., she cried ) or drop the comma (e.g., Jane laughed and cried. ) Why write compound sentences at all? Compound sentences are a step toward stronger sentences because they convey a relationship between two ideas or statements. Note how but conveys a very different relationship than and. Jane laughed, and I cried. The two events happened together. Jane laughed, but I cried. The writer means to draw attention to the disconnect between these two events. Berry argues that we need to think about the role of education in our sense of place, and he gives a minimal defintion of what he means by education. The writer is listing what Berry says in his article. Berry argues that we need to think about the role of education in our sense of place, but he gives only a minimal definition of what he means by education. The writer is turning the screws on Berry. The but conveys that Berry s minimal definition is a problem. 25

29 4. Fixing Comma Splices One of the most common errors of student writing is comma splices two parts of a compound sentence spliced together with a comma and no coordinating conjunction (and, yet, but, so, for ). Incorrect Jane laughed, I cried. I went to the store, I bought a watermelon. Derrick Rose is the best basketball player, he plays to win. These comma splices are run- on sentences. They have multiple complete thoughts, or clauses, tacked together without appropriate stops or connecting words. To fix a comma splice, you can (a) add a connecting word, or (b) add a period or harder punctuation, like a semi- colon. Correct Jane laughed, but I cried. or Jane laughed. I cried. or Jane laughed; I cried. I went to the store, where I bought a watermelon. or I went to the store. I bought a watermelon. 26